Saint Columba House Day Camp 2010

Hand in Hand Day Camp Goals
Ø To provide a secure and stimulating day program for intellectually
challenged individuals, while nurturing a spirit of community in which each
participant feels valued, is accepted and has a voice.
Ø To foster a program that meets the needs of an aging population of
intellectually challenged adults, helping them to develop and maintain skills
that empower them to have control in their lives, while educating them on
issues that affect them in the larger community.
Ø To develop supportive networks with families and care-givers of Hand-inHand participants in order to create consistency and to maintain support
throughout participants’ lives.
Ø To use the resources provided by the community in our daily activities, such
as swimming at the Saint Charles Arena, water balloons in the park across
the street, and the lawn bowling turf for our annual Lawn Toss Tournament.
Ø To engage in affordable and stimulating outings and activities, such as
visiting the Atwater Market, a delicious lunch at a local restaurant, bowling
at the Rose Bowl, Christmas in July, Movie days, Bingo, weekly swimming
trips, our annual Lawn Toss Tournament and a wonderful trip to the Eco
Museum.
The Hand-in-Hand Day Camp’s main objective is to provide services to our
participants during the summer months, who otherwise would be isolated
and have little opportunity to partake in affordable educational,recreational
activities in the community. (Melissa Chamberlain, Hand-in-Hand coordinator)
The Saint Columba House Literacy day camp in a glance
We provided 51 children with a wonderful camp experience this summer, including two children with special needs.
Our staff consisted of 6 counsellors, 1 shadow, 6 counsellors-in-training and two coordinators. Emilie Jacques, the
Alternate School Coordinator also joined the team for the first timeJ. Our waiting list grew and grew even into
mid-camp although, due to budget constraints, we could not accommodate these families, including two children
with special needs.
The summer was spent swimming in pools and playing in beautiful parks all around the South West. On rainy days
we bowled, visited Kidzone and went to the movies. Activities at the camp included yoga with Jennifer Maillin,
gardening on our roof top garden, drama with Jen, one of our senior counsellors, as well as cooking and baking. Our
big outings included the beach, Cap Saint-Jacques and Fort Angrignon. Our counsellors and CITs played cooperative
games with the children, created beautiful pieces of art, got their hearts pumping with sport activites and using
their minds with literacy activities.
We wiped many tears, we laughed, sometimes we sent the children home covered in paint or dirt, we sang silly
songs, endured the heat wave by swimming as much as we could, applied lots of sunscreen, handed out dozens of
water bottles and so much more. Even on a restricted budget and thanks to our funders we were able to provide an
educational and stimulating summer for the children of Point Saint Charles. What a wonderful summer! Thank-you
to our amazing staff, our incredible CITs and our dedicated donors, this summer was once again a summer to
rememberJ (Michelle Duchesneau, After School and Camp Coordinator)
Saint Columba House Literacy Day Camp
Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the
thinks you can think up if only you try! ~Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Thinks
You Can Think!
· This year we created a positive environment by welcoming
each and every child as they walked into the building with a
friendly smile and a warm Hello.
· We promoted community by working collaboratively with
other day camps from surrounding areas.
· We created a bilingual, multi-cultural and multi-faithed
community that worked and played together harmoniously.
Francophone children learned english words and phrases to
communicate with anglophone children. Anglophone
children tried their best to respond in french. Bilingual
campers and CITs helped to translate.
· We promoted literacy by encouraging reading and providing
access to books in our library and learning center. We
provided an array of stimulating activities planned by our
counsellors such as; literacy bingo, literacy capture the flag,
trivia games, writing letters to other camps and much more.
Frontier College visited with their reading tents for a
morning spent reading with friendly volunteers.
· Our staff planned an exciting summer filled with physical
activities, arts and crafts, music and much more.
· Our counsellors-in-training had a challenging and
invigorating summer. They participated in three days of
training before camp, weekly staff meetings and weekly
supervision meetings where we discussed their strengths
and areas of improvement. Our staff provided the CITs with
an enriching experience although the most rewarding of all
for the CITs was working with the children.
Hand in Hand Day Camp
This is my second summer working with the Hand in Hand Day Camp and it is a pleasure to go to work every day of
rthe The environment is unbelievably friendly and leaves you at the end of the day feeling good inside. It is
the Camp.
a true place of friendship. I can certainly say that I’ve accomplished something here.
- Michael Solano,
Animator for the Hand-in-Hand Day Camp
Working with Hand in Hand has been a wonderful experience. The participants are so welcoming and you always
feel appreciated. At the end of every day, I go home feeling very fulfilled, thinking about the funny things that
happened and the great time that was had. It’s been an unbelievable 7 weeks and I couldn’t be happier.This Day
Camp rocks.
-Jennifer Glover-Drolet,
Animator for the Hand-in-Hand Day Camp
The Saint Columba House Literacy Day Camp working with other camps in Montreal
This year we embarked on a new adventure. Tyndale, Camp Cosmos and Saint
Columba House worked collaboratively to facilitate a number of our staff
training sessions, utilising one another’s areas of expertise, sharing the cost of
training workshops and brought the children together to share fun and games.
On our Olympic day, we shared a delicious BBQ lunch of veggie, halal and
chicken hotdogs, yummy desserts made by the campers. The children had the
opportunity to meet children from other communities and be reunited with
school friends .
Thank-you Camp Cosmos and Tyndale we had a wonderful summer !
2010 Camp Donor List
BBB Foundation
Foundation J.A.DeSève
Erin Sports
Beaconsfield UCW
Dorval Strathmore UCW
Mount Royal UC
Mountainside UC
Cedar Park UC
Ste. Genevieve Sunday School
Rosemer e Memorial Church
Renate Sutherland
Dr. Gerard Gouw
Elizabeth Chown
Carman Bennett
Donald Auclair
John Bryce
Député Saint-Henri-Saint-Anne,
Mme Marguerite Blais
Maire de l’arrondissement du SudOuest, Mr. Benoît Dorais
Young Canada Works
Canada Summer Jobs
Toxico
Altergo